According to Winkworth, there's no sign of London's top-end boom market ending soon, while wealthy Eurozone and Middle Eastern buyers continue to plough money in. Prices in Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia rose 17% in 2011, with 41% of those sales involving figures above £2m (up from 33% in 2010). London's safe haven status is behind the demand, and a shortage of available properties is pushing prices ever higher. More here.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

A two-bedroom house in Knightsbridge's Ennismore Gardens Mews with an asking price of £2.75m and a swinging sixties history that includes use as a location in The Avengers. More here.

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Business Week claims to have a source with news of a £100m sale of Knightsbridge penthouse, in the Bulgari Hotel and Residences, the mage-upscale block at no. 171. I'm guessing we're talking about this property, recently advertised with Christie's. The sums come out to about £7,000 a square foot. That's not a record, but it's hardly recession chic either.

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It's apparently had more than 40 viewings in a fortnight, and - we've got to admit - once we get over the £700,000 price tag and come to terms with the fact that its Cheval Place location and parking place make this guide price kind of inevitable... it's pretty cute. On the ground floor: a single garage, kitchen, toilet; above: living room/bedroom. It'll need work. There's no proper bathroom, although most are apparently attracted by the parking, and see the room above as a possible office. Particulars, here.

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It's 12ft by 23ft, it's located in Knightsbridge and it's securely managed by Harrods Asset Management. You'll have to pay a £710 annual service charge, and it's available to local residents only. Mind you, only local residents could afford it. More here.

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Zoopla's revealed the UK's most expensive postcodes, and it's topped - less than surprisingly - with W8, where average property prices are in excess of £1.5m. The most expensive street? Kensington Palace Gardens... at £18m a house, on average. Other £1m+ postcodes are SW7, SW3, W11 and SW10. Virginia Water, alone, represents the rest of the country in the top ten list.

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It was the former London home of the Morgan family (more recently, HQ of the Royal College of General Practitioners), 14-15 Princes Gate (so posh it gets two numbers) has been sold for (it is rumoured) £34m, to an overseas fund.

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They pop up every so often, the converted broom cupboards with asking prices that outstrip Scottish castles. This one... 11ft by 5.5ft, a genuine ex-broom cupboard, and smaller, apparently, than a snooker table... isn't for sale, but it must have been a slow news day at the Mirror, because they've invited themselves in and had it valued, nonetheless. It's in Knightsbridge, across the road from Harrods, and according to a local agent could fetch anything from £150,000 to £200,000. More here.

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Thanks to the Rat and Mouse reader for the tip... "apparently" - and we're trusting you on this one - this is Daniel Craig's very lovely 4-bedroom mews house in SW7, complete with gym, cinema and conspicuously placed Tom Ford book. Guide price: £4.25m; particulars here.

If these walls could talk... Max Clifford edition [January 21, 2010]

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I'd heard - on the grapevine - via a number of estate agents about growing numbers of Italians setting up home in London, driven by a combination of a strong Euro and a strange domestic tax situation involving a temporary amnesty. Now - according to Investors Chronicle:

An influx of Italian cash buyers to the central London property market is skewing house price indicators and leading to over-optimistic forecasts of a housing market recovery.

The story comes via, ahem, Capital Economics, and uses data from Savills, who claim 80% of Kensington enquiries and 70% in Knightsbridge are from Italian buyers.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

While we were away, a fascinating piece in the Telegraph about seven London lodges, all in the Royal Parks, which have been spruced up and are being made available to rent. They're not cheap, of course, but the perks, combined with the originality of the addresses, are impressive... and include Royal Parks gardeners tending your plot, detached living and parking in central London and acres of parkland on the doorstep. At the bargain cosy end of things, try West Lodge in Hyde Park: a double bedroom, off-street parking and garden near Knightsbridge and South Kensington, for £550 a week.

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The New York Times tours director Roland Emmerich's Knightsbridge apartment and finds a stuffed zebra, a 25ft Mao, giant murals painted by the man who reproduced the Louvre's art works for The Da Vince Code and...

... dioramas with scenes of notorious events like the actor Hugh Grant’s encounter with a Hollywood prostitute and the torture that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. “People can spend an entire evening discussing a film,” [interior design] Mr. [John] Teall said, explaining what some might consider obsessive attention to detail. “I liked the idea that a house might inspire the same” reaction.

More here.

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A six-bedroom house on Gloucester Road... and the former home of J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Barrie is believed to have been living at the house when he wrote the book, and the house has several interesting original features... the original sink in the bathroom, a dumb waiter. It's with Foxtons, here, with a guide price of £6.75m.

If these walls could talk... Biba edition [September 13, 2007]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

I have friends in New York and, like Londoners, they like to talk apartments. But when it comes to property in our capital city, they just don't get it. A two-bedroom, one reception room, single floor home without a garden for... £1.85m. How does that happen? It's all about the quest for the original, the quest for character in a city packed with hidden gems. Lantern House is in Elvaston Mews, one of the last in London with an actual working stable. It's close to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. There's nothing else like it. Particulars, here.

Tomorrow, Chelsea mansion.

The Particulars - what's this about?

The New York Times's Great Homes section runs a special Knightsbridge feature. Mentioned in the doomsday book, close to Harrods, close to Harvey Nicks, village atmosphere, old Bentley's parked in the street, tall ceilings, big rooms, communal gardens... the Americans love it. There's an entertaining little slide show; and they focus on a Lowndes Square home, on the market at just over five and half million dollars. The lounge is lovely. The kitchen, too. But look at the bedroom... wouldn't you think about clearing some of the rubble of the tables? Opening the curtains? Removing the weird wall decorations? Come on, it's not like it's cheap.

Thanks to the loyal Rat and Mouse reader who tipped us off to this story in today's Telegraph even before we got there ourselves. Apparently, Lane Fox have just sold a house in Knightsbridge that you would think left little room for improvement, fresh, as it was, from a £3 million renovation (including, they say, a £125,000 shower room). But the new owners clearly have very exacting standards, because it's all coming out and the house is about to get a total, bottom-to-top, refit. The Telegraph suggests scouring Knightsbridge skips. Don't bother. We're planning on making friends with the builders.